62 research outputs found
The desire for new humanisms
This paper articulates our desire for new humanisms in a contemporary cultural, economic and global context that has been described as posthuman. As researchers committed to modes of radical, critical, politicised and inclusive education, we are mindful of the significance of social theory and its relationship with articulations of social justice. Whilst sympathetic to the potentiality of posthuman thought we grapple with the imperative to embrace new humanisms that historicise and recognise global inequalities that concurrently exist in relation to a myriad of human categories including class, age, geopolitical location, gender, sexuality, race and disability. We focus in on the latter two categories and draw on ideas from postcolonial and critical disability studies. Our argument considers the problem of humanism (as a product of colonial Western imaginaries), the critical responses offered by posthuman thinking and then seeks to rearticulate forms of new humanism that are responsive to the posthuman condition and, crucially, the political interventions of Postcolonial and Critical Disability Scholars. We then outline six new humanist projects that could productively feed into the work of the Journal of Disability Studies in Education
'Some people are not allowed to love': intimate citizenship in the lives of people labelled with intellectual disabilities
Disability helps us think differently about the âidealâ neoliberal-able citizen who may not equate to ideas of productive, sexual, ânormalâ. Intimate citizenship â our rights and access to intimacy â is often ignored by those working with people labelled with intellectual disabilities and in research. In this article, we discuss the outcome of a dialogue between self-advocates labelled with intellectual disabilities, academics, service providers, Aboriginal leaders, students and artists about intimate citizenship through love, intimate work and consumption
The violence of disablism
This article addresses the multi-faceted nature of violence in the lives of disabled people, with a specific focus on the accounts of disabled children and their families. Traditionally, when violence and disability have been considered together, this has emphasised the disabled subject whom inevitably exhibits violent challenging behaviour. Recently, however, more attention has been paid to violence experienced by disabled people, most notably in relation to hate crime. This article embraces theories that do not put the problems of disablism or violence back onto disabled people but magnify and expose processes of disablism that are produced in the relationships between people, which sometimes involve violence. This, we argue, means taking seriously the role of social relationships, institutions and culture in the constitution of violence. Disabled children, we argue, are enculturated by the violence of disablism. We follow ZË izË ekâs advice to step back from the obvious signals of violence to âperceive the contours of the background which generates such outburstsâ, and identify four elements of the violence of disablism which we define as real, psychoemotional, systemic and cultural. We come to the conclusion that violence experienced by disabled children and their families says more about the dominant culture of disablism than it does of the acts of a few seemingly irrational, unreasonable, mean or violent individuals. We conclude that there is a need for extensive cultural deconstruction and reformation
Feeling disability: Theories of affect and critical disability studies
This paper explores connections between affect studies and critical disability studies. Our interest in affect is sparked by the beginnings of a new research project that seeks to illuminate the lives, hopes and desires of young people with âlife-limitingâ or âlife-threateningâ impairments. Cultural responses to these young people are shaped by dominant discourses associated with lives lived well and long. Before commencing our empirical work with young people we use this paper to think through how we might conceptualise affect and disability. We present three themes; ontological invalidation in neoliberal-able times; affect aliens and crip killjoys; disability and resistant assemblages
Provocations for critical disability studies
This article posits a number of provocations for scholars and researchers engaged with Critical Disability Studies. We summarise some of the analytical twists and turns occurring over the last few years that create a number of questions and concerns. We begin by introducing Critical Disability Studies; describing it as an interdisciplinary field of scholarship building on foundational disability studies theories. Critical Disability Studies scholarship is being produced at an exponential rate and we assert that we need to take pause for thought. We lay out five provocations to encourage reflection and debate: what is the purpose of Critical Disability Studies; how inclusive is Critical Disability Studies; is disability the object or subject of studies; what matters or gets said about disability; and how can we attend to disability and ability? We conclude by making a case for a reflexive and politicised Critical Disability Studies
Mad mothering: learning from the intersections of madness, mothering, and disability
The article brings together the fields of mad studies (LeFrancois et al.), matricentric feminism (OâReilly, Matricentric Feminism) and critical disability studies (Goodley, âDis/entangling Critical Disability Studiesâ). The aim is to expose and challenge ârelations of rulingâ (Smith 79) that both produce and discipline âmad mothers of disabled children.â The analysis begins by exploring the un/commonalities of the emerging histories of the three disciplines. The article then identifies analytical points of intersection, including critiques of neoliberalism; troubling the ânormâ (including radical resistance and activism); intersectionality, post-colonial and queer theory. Finally, the article turns to points of divergence and possible tensions between these theoretical approaches as it explores the absence of disability in matricentric feminism, the contested place of mothering in critical disability studies, and the absence of mothering in mad studies
'They never pass me the ballâ: exposing ableism through the leisure experiences of disabled children, young people and their families.
In this paper, we explore the participation of disabled children, young people and their families in leisure activities. Drawing on the accounts of disabled children, young people and their parents and carers, we reflect on the leisure spaces that they access and record some of their experiences within them. Using the concept of âableismâ (Campbell 2009) we interrogate the data gathered as part a two-year project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (RES â 062-23-1138) (http//www.rihsc.mmu.ac.uk/postblairproject/):âDoes every child matter, Post-Blair: the interconnections of disabled childhoods'. By doing so we identify some of the inherent and embedded discriminations in favour of those children and young people who are perceived to be âableâ that simultaneously work to exclude the young 'kinds of people' (Hacking 2007), categorised as 'disabled', and their families from leisure facilities and opportunities. We suggest that currently, disabled families and children occupy a mix of âmainstream', âsegregatedâ and âseparateâ leisure spaces. We discuss the impact of occupying these spaces and ask:
What do the experiences of accessing leisure by disabled children, young people and their families reveal about the processes and practices of ableism?
To what extent are children and families required to 'pass'as'normal enough' to gain access to leisure spaces?
To what extent are âsegregatedâ leisure opportunities regulated and produced by a kind of âdiagnostic apartheidâ (Campbell 2008a: 155)?
What is the role and value of 'separate' leisure activities?
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Rebooting inclusive education? New technologies and disabled people
This paper provides a speculative, conceptual and literature-based review of the relationship between disability and new technologies with a specific focus on inclusive education for disabled people. The first section critically explores disability and new technologies in a time of Industry 4.0. We lay out some concerns that we have, especially in relation to disabled peopleâs peripheral positionality, when it comes to these new developments. The second section focuses on the area of inclusive education. Inclusion and education are oftentimes in conflict with one another. We tease out these conflicts and argue that we cannot decouple the promise of new technologies from the challenges of inclusive education, because, in spite of the potential for technological mediation to broaden access to education, there remains deep-rooted problems with exclusion. The third section of our paper explores affirmative possibilities in relation to the interactions between disability and new technologies. We draw on the theoretical fields of Science and Technology Studies; Critical Disability Studies; Assistive and Inclusive Technologies; Collaborative Robotics, Maker and DIY Cultures and identify a number of key considerations that relate directly to the revaluing of inclusive education. We conclude our paper by identifying what we view as pressing and immediate concerns for inclusive educators when considering the merging of disability and technology, accessibility and learning design
Problematising parentâprofessional partnerships in education
The value of, and need for, parentâprofessional partnerships is an unchallenged mantra within policy relating to âspecial educational needsâ. In spite of this, partnerships continue to be experienced as problematic by both parents and professionals. This paper brings together the different perspectives of two disability researchers: one a parent of a disabled child while the other was a teacher for 20 years of children with the label autism. The paper deconstructs the concept of partnership and then, drawing on the expertise of parents, suggests how enabling and empowering parentâprofessional relationships might be achieved
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